In boating, lines are used for a variety of tasks including securing boats to a dock or to each other. To facilitate use of lines for these purposes, boats and docks are often provided with various members to which the line may be secured. The most common of these members is probably the cleat. Typically, a boat is provided with at least a pair of cleats at its fore and aft for securing the boat to a docking structure or other boat. The most common way of securing boats together or to a docking structure is to tie off the ends of a line to the respective cleats on the dock and boat. For this purpose, lines are often provided with loops at either end. These loops may be formed by the manufacturer or created by knotting each end of the line. Alternatively, the ends of each line may be tied to the cleat or wrapped in a lapping pattern around the cleat to hold the line fast. These tying or lapping procedures are often difficult to perform or unknown to amateur boaters. In poor weather conditions, such as heavy winds or storms, these procedures can be difficult for experienced boaters.
Another common use for lines is to hang fenders from the sides of the boat to prevent the boat from rubbing or impacting the sides of adjacent boats or docking structures. Ordinarily, fenders are hung over the side of the boat, but they are attached to the docking structure. As is well known, when a boat is docked, waves act against the boat driving it toward an adjacent boat or docking structure, while causing the boat to move vertically relative to these adjacent structures, potentially causing serious damage to the dock or the boat. The fenders are placed between the boat and the docking structure to act as a cushion and space the boat from the docking structure. To that end, elongated fenders that substantially extend downward the entire height of the boat extending above the surface of the water are hung periodically around the perimeter of the boat. These fenders are generally closed at each end forming a bladder that traps a pocket of air within the walls of the fender. The walls of the fender are typically made of rubber or other similar material capable of cyclically flexing and rebounding as the fender is compressed and released by the motion of the boat relative to the docking structure or adjacent boats. To facilitate attachment of the fender to the boat or docking structure, the fender typically has an integrally formed loop at one or both ends. Ordinarily, a rope, chain, or webbing, which for simplicity will be collectively referred to as a line, may be passed through or tied to the loop. The free end of the line is then typically used to secure the fender to the dock or boat.
Prior to the present invention, fenders were secured by tying the free end of the line to some member on the boat or dock. In most instances the free end was tied to a cleat. To secure the fender to the cleat the user had to pass the line through an opening within the cleat and tie the line in a knot. The tying of such a knot requires some skill or a fair amount of practice making it difficult and time consuming to secure the fender.
Adding to the difficulty of hanging these fenders, it may be necessary to secure them to the boat while the boat is in motion. Faced with the difficulty of untying the fender line, while the boat is in motion, some boaters simply leave the fenders hanging from the sides of the boat. Other boaters more commonly flip the fenders within the interior of the boat in an attempt to stow them. Depending on the location of suitable compartments for receiving the fenders, it may be necessary to untie the fender from the cleat to which it is secured before the fender can be properly stowed. In these instances, to properly stow the fender, the boater must untie the knot used to hang the fenders, and, then, upon returning to the dock, retie the fender to the side of the boat. It will be appreciated that while the boat is in operation or simply when the boat is pitching and rolling, this operation is difficult and somewhat time-consuming to perform with two hands. When particularly adverse conditions exist, such as storms, the generally two-handed process of tying a knot becomes extremely time consuming when one or both hands is intermittently needed to support or stabilize one""s self.
Aside form the difficulties of securing the fender, tying the fender to a cleat on the boat or docking structure prevents one from tying a dock line. The line used to secure the fender often fills the space beneath the cleat""s wings and occludes the central high of the cleat leaving no room for an additional line. Since the number of cleats on a boat or a docking structure is limited, boaters are often left with the choice of inadequately protecting their boat by using available cleats for the dock line only, or securing the fenders or dock line to less stable structures on the boat.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a simpler mechanism for attaching an end of a line to a cleat.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for attaching the end of a line to a cleat such that the cleat may also be used to secure a dock line.
In light of at least one of these objects the present invention provides a hanger for securing a line to a cleat, which has a pair of sidewalls lying in a plane defining an eye therebetween, the hanger including a body portion attachable to the line having a length greater than the eye, and a nose extending from the body portion such that it protrudes into the plane of the sidewalls.
The invention further provides a hanger used to fasten a line to a cleat having spaced sidewalls separated by a distance, the line hanger including a body portion having a length greater than the distance between the sidewalls and a width less than the distance between the sidewalls, and a receiver carried on the body portion adapted to secure the line to the body portion, whereby the hanger is insertable lengthwise between the sidewalls and whereby the length of the body prevents passage of the body through the cleat in a widthwise manner.
The present invention further provides a buckle assembly used in conjunction with a line passing through an opening in a fender to attach the fender to a cleat, the buckle assembly including a buckle having a receiver adapted to adjustably receive the line, wherein the buckle is larger than the opening, whereby an end of the line extending from the buckle passes through the opening to hang the fender from the cleat, and a graspable tab extending from the buckle.
The present invention further provides a fender hanging assembly used in conjunction with a line and a cleat having sidewalls spaced by a distance, the fender hanging assembly including a hanger supported on the line on one side of the fender, the hanger including a body portion having a length greater than the distance and a width less than the distance, whereby the body portion is insertable between the sidewalls in a lengthwise fashion, and a buckle assembly supported on the line on the other side of the fender relative to the line hanger, the buckle assembly including a buckle adapted to prevent the fender from moving farther from the line hanger, and a tab extending from the buckle, whereby the tab is graspable to move the fender.